Snowflake 2024: how Sridhar Ramaswamy stepped in as CEO mid-year, the data cloud added Cortex AI, and competition with Databricks intensified into a genuine category battle
Sridhar Ramaswamy became Snowflake CEO on February 28, 2024, succeeding Frank Slootman who had led the company since 2019 through its 2020 IPO and subsequent growth phase. Ramaswamy had joined Snowflake via the Neeva acquisition (May 2023) and had been responsible for Snowflake's AI strategy. His CEO appointment signaled Snowflake's strategic priority: AI as the next growth vector for the data cloud platform. Through 2024, Snowflake deployed Cortex AI (a suite of generative-AI features running natively on Snowflake data), faced intensifying competition from Databricks (Snowflake's primary competitor, which has built its own AI platform around the Mosaic AI acquisition), navigated a substantial customer-data-breach incident involving Ticketmaster and other Snowflake customers' credentials, and reported revenue growth of approximately 30% YoY (slower than peak rates but still strong). Stock through 2024 reflected continued investor concern about Snowflake's growth deceleration and competitive position; the company traded at significantly compressed multiples vs 2021 peak.
- Story: Sridhar Ramaswamy became Snowflake CEO February 28, 2024, succeeding Frank Slootman who led 2019-2024. Ramaswamy had joined via May 2023 Neeva acquisition and led AI strategy. Cortex AI suite (announced November 2023, expanded 2024) positions Snowflake as native-AI data platform. Competition with Databricks intensified into genuine category battle through 2024. Microsoft Fabric (GA February 2024) added third major competitor. June 2024 credential-based attack on customer accounts (Ticketmaster and others) raised perception questions. Q3 FY2025 revenue $942M (+28% YoY) — strong but well below peak growth rates. Stock down ~75% from 2021 peak.
- Why it matters: Snowflake 2024 is the worked example of category-leading data platform navigating AI category emergence: deep AI integration into existing platform value proposition rather than standalone AI products.
- Takeaway: Right strategy for data-platform incumbents is deep AI integration that strengthens platform proposition.
- Takeaway: Category-positioning battles (Snowflake vs Databricks vs Microsoft Fabric) are determined by customer default-platform choices, not technical capability alone.
- Takeaway: Customer-credential security is structural concern even when not platform's direct fault; perception impact requires response.
Snowflake 2024 AI pivot — the four-step story
Snowflake 2024 AI pivot at a glance
Quick facts
The Slootman tenure and the 2020-2024 growth era
Frank Slootman became Snowflake CEO in May 2019, recruited by VC investors who wanted experienced enterprise-software leadership to scale Snowflake from product-led startup to enterprise-grade business. Slootman's prior background (CEO of ServiceNow 2011-2017, CEO of Data Domain through 2009 EMC acquisition) had been substantially in enterprise SaaS scaling.
Under Slootman, Snowflake executed major milestones:
- September 16, 2020 IPO: Snowflake went public at $120/share, well above the upsized range, and stock opened at $245 — making it the largest software IPO in history at the time. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway made an unusual pre-IPO investment, validating the company.
- Revenue growth through 2020-2022: from approximately $264M in fiscal 2020 to $2B+ in fiscal 2023. Among the fastest software-revenue scaling stories.
- Multi-cloud architecture: Snowflake runs on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, giving customers cloud-neutral data warehousing.
- Snowpark and unstructured data: extensions into Python/Java workloads (Snowpark) and unstructured data processing extended Snowflake beyond traditional data warehouse use cases.
- Data Sharing and Marketplace: Snowflake's data-sharing protocol enables customers to share datasets without copying data, creating ecosystem effects.
- 2021 stock peak: reached ~$400+ per share in late 2021 valuing Snowflake at ~$120B.
The 2022-2023 macro environment and growth deceleration
Through 2022-2023, Snowflake's growth decelerated as macro and competitive factors converged:
- Customer cost optimization: Snowflake's consumption-pricing model meant customer cost-management efforts directly reduced Snowflake revenue. Customers explicitly optimizing Snowflake bills (query optimization, data-retention tuning, archived-storage usage) reduced Snowflake's per-customer growth.
- Stock decline through 2022: broader growth-stock correction plus customer cost-optimization concerns pushed Snowflake stock down ~70% from 2021 peak through 2022 trough.
- Continued growth despite deceleration: revenue continued growing at 30-40% rates through 2023-2024, slower than peak but among fastest in enterprise software.
- Competitive context emerging: Databricks (private; reportedly $43B valuation in 2023 funding) built differentiated positioning around data + AI + collaborative notebooks. Microsoft Fabric (announced 2023, GA 2024) integrated Microsoft's data and analytics tools into competing platform. Google BigQuery continued growing within Google Cloud customer base.
- AI competitive pressure: as foundation-model AI became the major enterprise software conversation in 2023-2024, Snowflake's positioning as 'data cloud' raised the strategic question of whether Snowflake or Databricks (or others) would become the platform of choice for enterprise AI workloads.
The Cortex AI launch and the Ramaswamy CEO transition
Sridhar Ramaswamy joined Snowflake through the May 2023 Neeva acquisition. Ramaswamy had previously been Senior Vice President of Ads and Commerce at Google (1999-2018), and had founded Neeva (a privacy-focused search engine) in 2019. At Snowflake, he led the AI strategy as Senior Vice President of AI:
- Cortex AI announcement (November 2023): Snowflake's branded suite of generative AI features running natively on Snowflake's data. Initial capabilities included LLM functions, vector embedding, and AI-powered analysis tools.
- Cortex Search (2024): hybrid search combining keyword and vector approaches.
- Cortex Analyst (2024): text-to-SQL capabilities for business users to query data without SQL knowledge.
- Native-AI positioning: Snowflake's strategic framing was that AI capabilities running natively where customer data already lives is structurally better than moving data to external AI platforms.
- Ramaswamy CEO appointment: announced February 28, 2024 (Q4 FY2024 earnings). Frank Slootman transitioned to Chairman; Ramaswamy became CEO. The transition was framed as bringing AI-native leadership to the company at the inflection point where AI strategy mattered most.
- Market reaction to transition: Snowflake stock fell ~20% on the announcement, reflecting investor concerns about both the leadership change and underlying growth-rate guidance for fiscal 2025.
The June 2024 Ticketmaster credential breach
In June 2024, a credentials-based attack on Ticketmaster's Snowflake account exposed approximately 560 million Ticketmaster customers' data. Subsequent investigation revealed the attack was part of a broader campaign affecting multiple Snowflake customers (Santander, AT&T, Advanced Auto Parts, and others were also compromised through similar attack patterns):
- Attack pattern: attackers obtained customer credentials (likely through infostealer malware on customer endpoints) and accessed Snowflake accounts that didn't have multi-factor authentication enabled.
- Snowflake infrastructure not compromised: the attack was on customer authentication credentials, not on Snowflake's own systems or shared infrastructure.
- Snowflake response: announced new authentication policies, mandatory MFA for new accounts, customer-credential rotation programs, and threat-detection enhancements.
- Reputation impact: while not technically Snowflake's fault, the incident raised perception questions about cloud-data-platform security. Customers in regulated industries (financial services, healthcare) re-evaluated authentication policies.
- Lawsuits: class-action lawsuits filed by affected customers' end-users; legal proceedings continuing through 2024-2025.
How RGM thinks about category-leader AI strategic positioning
Snowflake's 2024 chapter is the worked example of how category-leading data platforms navigate the AI category emergence. The structural challenge: data cloud platforms (Snowflake, Databricks, BigQuery, Microsoft Fabric, others) all argue that AI workloads belong on their platform because that's where customer data lives. The competitive battle is not really about technical capability differences; it's about which platform customers default to for their data + AI integrated workloads.
Our framework for clients in similar category-positioning battles: the right strategy is typically deep AI integration into the existing platform value proposition rather than launching standalone AI products. Snowflake's Cortex AI positioning (run AI where the data is) is structurally sound. The execution challenges: customer adoption velocity, technical capability vs competing platforms, ecosystem-partner alignment. We tell clients in similar category-position battles to invest in deep integration that strengthens the platform proposition rather than treating AI as a separate product layer. The Ramaswamy-led Snowflake execution will be a real test of this thesis through 2025-2026; early signals are positive but the outcome will be determined by customer adoption rather than product announcements.
Frequently asked questions
Is Snowflake actually losing to Databricks?
Mixed evidence. Databricks's growth rate has been faster than Snowflake's through 2023-2024, but Databricks is private and revenue figures are estimates. Snowflake's larger established customer base produces structural advantages but Databricks's AI-platform positioning has been more category-narrative-friendly. The two companies are increasingly competing for the same workloads; the historical positioning (Snowflake = data warehouse, Databricks = data engineering and ML) is blurring. Long-term outcome depends on platform adoption and ecosystem dynamics.
What about Microsoft Fabric?
Real competitive threat. Microsoft Fabric (GA February 2024) integrates Microsoft's data and analytics tools (formerly separate products like Synapse, Power BI, Data Factory) into a unified platform with built-in AI capabilities. For Microsoft-aligned enterprise customers, Fabric is a structural alternative to Snowflake. Microsoft's enterprise relationships and bundling capability are real moats. Snowflake's competitive position with Microsoft customers will be tested over the next several years.
Is Cortex AI actually working?
Adoption is growing but commercial impact is early. Cortex AI features have been integrated across Snowflake products. Customer adoption is meaningful but the revenue contribution from AI-specific consumption is not yet broken out separately. Whether Cortex AI becomes a major Snowflake revenue contributor or remains a feature layer is the strategic question. Ramaswamy's tenure will be judged largely on this outcome.
How serious is the Ticketmaster breach for Snowflake?
Reputationally meaningful but commercially limited. The technical reality (attack on customer credentials, not Snowflake infrastructure) limits direct liability. The perception impact has been real with customers re-evaluating authentication policies and security investments. Snowflake's response (mandatory MFA, threat-detection enhancements) has been adequate but not industry-leading. The full longer-term commercial impact is still being assessed.
What about Frank Slootman's role now?
Chairman with continued strategic influence but reduced day-to-day involvement. Slootman has continued to be publicly involved in Snowflake messaging and customer communications. His operational role has decreased substantially. The Ramaswamy-Slootman relationship appears collaborative; Ramaswamy has signaled continued direction from Slootman-era priorities while adding AI strategic focus.
Sources & references
- Snowflake CEO transition announcement — Snowflake February 28 2024 announcement.
- Cortex AI launch announcement — Snowflake official Cortex AI launch.
- Ticketmaster breach coverage — Reuters coverage of June 2024 breach.
- Q3 FY2025 earnings — Snowflake SEC filings and quarterly earnings.
- Databricks competitive coverage — The Information competitive analysis.